An earlier TFAA-initiated project “Civil War in Art: Teaching and Learning through Chicago Collections” provided a springboard for the Smarthistory resource, which incorporates updated scholarship and a new selection of artworks to better reflect contemporary and historical perspectives on the war and its legacy, and on Civil War monuments as contemporary sites of discourse and activism.
The Terra Foundation supported Smarthistory’s The U.S. Civil War in Art, a collection of essays and videos that strives to recapture the immediacy of the war, engaging with the paintings, popular prints, photography, and material culture that reflect the experiences of those who lived through the war and the visual culture that has shaped our understanding of the war ever since.